New EPA Rule Requires Chemical Disclosure for Offshore Fracking

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published
a rule on January 9, 2014 requiring oil and gas companies using hydraulic
fracturing off the coast of California to disclose the chemicals they discharge
into the ocean. Oil and gas companies have been fracking offshore California
for perhaps as long as two decades, but they largely flew under the radar
until recently.

An Associated Press story in August 2013 revealed that
oil and gas companies had engaged in hydraulic fracturing at least a dozen
times in the Santa Barbara Channel - the site of the nation's first offshore
drilling site as well as the first major oil spill. The 1969 well blowout in
the Santa Barbara Channel became the impetus for a series of environmental
laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act.

Documents published through a Freedom of Information Act request showed that
federal regulators have allowed drillers to dump chemicals into the ocean without an
environmental impact statement assessing the effects of doing so. This was
largely unknown to California regulators and the general public. The Bureau
of Safety and Environmental Enforcement - the federal regulator responsible
for regulating offshore oil drilling - has issued "categorical exclusions" for
fracking offshore California, essentially giving frack jobs a pass on environmental
assessments. The logic is that offshore fracking has largely occurred in existing
wells, locations for which companies already jumped through all the environmental
hoops long ago.

Offshore fracking could be much more widespread than even federal regulators
are aware. According to the Environmental
Defense Center, BSEE only began to learn about the extent to which fracking
was occurring offshore when pressed to respond to FOIA requests.

The industry maintains that hydraulic fracturing is safe, and BSEE officials
point to the fact that fracking offshore requires only a fraction of
the water needed to do the job onshore.

But offshore fracking differs from the onshore practice in at least one important
way. After an onshore well is fracked, the waste water is often re-injected
into the ground for storage. However, offshore drillers often simply dump the
waste water into
the ocean - although the industry claims the water is treated before
entering the marine environment.

The latest EPA rule would merely require companies to report the chemicals
that they are discharging into the ocean. The rule is a weak
one because relies upon companies to self-report their activities.

EPA's announcement is a new wrinkle in the story of fracking in California,
which has been much more raucously debated onshore. Last year, the state passed
a controversial law that introduced the first regulations on fracking. It requires companies
to disclose the chemicals used in the drilling process, obtain permits, and
monitor air and water quality. Environmentalists rejected the law and are calling
for a full
moratorium.

Governor Jerry Brown does not support a ban on fracking and insists the new
law is rigorous. Despite the complex geology that could prevent California
from ever living up to its oil
and gas potential, the industry and many policymakers remain in favor of
trying to exploit the vast oil and gas reserves in California - both on and
offshore.

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